Publicity manager/senior publicity manager/head of publicity

Closing date for applications: 10 October 2025

Salary: £35,000 - £55,000 dependent on experience and location (+bonus +benefits)

Location: This role can be based at our London or Sheffield office, with a blend of in-office (3 days) and homeworking (2 days) per week

Celebrate exceptional literary talent by leading creative publicity campaigns that inspire readers and broaden the reach of powerful stories.

With over 150 years of ground-breaking publishing from book lovers, original thinkers and market leaders, our unwavering mission has been to publish the most compelling voices in every genre. We continue to find new ground, new audiences and new voices with every title we publish. We are passionate readers and believe in the power of words to change lives. Hodder & Stoughton is a division of Hachette, one of the largest publishing groups in the UK, with 11 publishing divisions and over 60 imprints. Everyone here is proud to be in the business of opening doors and minds.

Hodder Press is the home of authoritative narrative non-fiction at Hodder & Stoughton. We love high-quality non-fiction that asks big questions, challenges perspectives and brings an expert view to essential topics.

Sceptre’s mission is to publish books that matter and that will stand the test of time; books that engage both heart and mind; books for readers looking not only to be entertained but to have their horizons broadened, knowledge deepened, perspectives shifted and imaginations fired.

We are seeking an experienced, passionate and creative publicist to join the award-winning Hodder & Stoughton publicity team, with a focus on our literary publishing. We are currently open to receiving applications across a range of job levels and locations, in order to find the most passionate and skilled candidates in this space. This role offers an exciting opportunity to work on literary titles within the infrastructure of a successful commercial publisher.


What you'll be doing

The successful candidate will be responsible for:

• All publicity activities on their allocation from acquisitions, through to planning, implementation, publication and beyond. This role will cover a variety of titles across the Hodder & Stoughton imprints with a particular focus on Sceptre and Hodder Press
• Producing high profile campaigns that directly influence sales and awareness of our list
• Sometimes working collaboratively alongside other publicists on joint campaigns, tours and planning
• Liaising with all departments, working especially closely with their marketing and editorial counterparts on campaigns
• Maintaining excellent literary media contacts through media meetings, networking, event outreach and targeted pitching
• Sharing contacts and expertise back with the wider PR team
• Working closely with authors by being a champion for their work, providing outstanding author care and maintaining excellent relationships with agents and key external stakeholders
• Managing a title budget diligently and effectively
• Liaising with our talented international teams on global campaigns
• Creating and accompanying on author tours that both maintain excellent existing relationships with bookshops and cultural institutions as well as reaching new audiences and bringing our books to fresh readerships.
• Maintaining engagement with key online communities
• Contributing towards wider conversations relating to literary titles which may include acquisitions feedback, pitch documents and meetings
• Working on key core list titles, as well as front list
• Contribution to Hodder & Stoughton company culture and Hachette-wide networks is important

Areas to be discussed/developed, depending on experience

• Growing our brand authors and their titles
• Imprint and reputational strategy
• Wider company events and outreach
• Line management

The above list is not exclusive or exhaustive and the job holder may be required to undertake such other duties as may reasonably be required.


Who we are looking for

We are looking for applicants who have a passion for literary fiction and non-fiction and have experience of delivering sales-driving campaigns across literary narrative non-fiction, expert-led non-fiction (eg science, history, big ideas), debut novels, fiction in translation and literary bestsellers.

We’d love to hear from candidates who enjoy working collaboratively and calmly in a busy PR team, and who love working with others in tight knit publishing teams. Fantastic literary media contacts are vital, along with great relationships and communications, to consistently deliver impactful campaigns, publicity events and tours for a range of authors.

Outstanding campaign delivery is the core focus of this role. However for a more experienced applicant, we’d be looking to build in more strategic and reputational elements, longer-term brand planning and potentially line management.


What we offer

Our staff are our greatest asset, and our benefits reflect this:

• 28 annual leave days per year, increases to 29 days after 2 years' service and goes up to 30 days after 5 years' (+ bank holidays)
• Private medical insurance
• Dental insurance
• Generous pension schemes
• Rent deposit loans
• 2 community days per year
• Summer hours (finishing at 1pm on Fridays during the summer months)
• Retail discounts through Hachette rewards
• Cycle to Work scheme
• Eye care vouchers
• Wide-ranging training library
• Development programmes (including mentoring)
• Up to 70% off book purchases
• A charity bookshelf
• 12 Staff-led employee networks that are voluntary, including Gender Balance, Thrive, Pride, All Together, Wellbeing and religious networks
• Season ticket loans
• And much more!

Our commitment

The Book Trade Charity offers financial support to people looking to enter the book trade but who may struggle to afford the costs of attending interviews and undertaking junior roles. For more information visit www.booktradeentrysupport.org

Hachette employs people on the basis of their abilities. We aim to attract and develop talent from a base as broad as the world of readers we want to reach, with a wide and representative range of age, faith, disability, race, gender, sexuality and socio-economic, regional and cultural backgrounds. If you are shortlisted and need us to make any adjustments to help you attend for interview, please let us know.

Please state in your application that you found this role through Creative Access.